I'm curious about the legalities of this.. There's a tea from Peru (Delisse) that I was interested in trying. The problem is that the tea is made from Coca leaves, and thus has a *small* amount of cocaine in it. Would it be illegal for me, as a Canadian, to order some? Would I get in trouble for ordering infitesimally small amounts of cocaine ridden tea by mail? The stuff is legal in Peru, but I don't think you can find it here. (BTW, I have never done cocaine..) :m: :m:
i think it should be fine, its like hemp, sure it can be extrcated eventually, but most people would just use it for its inteded purpose, so the govt has no problem with it.
It would be okay, because it's not in the form of cocaine. Otherwise, to buy hot cocoa or other chocolates would be illegal.
SativaDiva: What does cocoa or chocolate have to do with coca? They are 2 completely different species of plant!
In the 1980s, millions of drug-naïve Americans were introduced to "decocainised" coca tea imported from South America. The legitimate cultivation of Peruvian coca, and also the production of all Peruvian cocaine licensed for pharmaceutical export, was controlled by the government's own National Enterprise Of Coca. In a bid to expand and diversify its product range, the National Enterprise Of Coca promoted the benefits of coca in the form of a wholesome traditional beverage. This state-sponsored export-drive was successful: overseas demand proved brisk. From 1983, 'Inca Health Tea' sold especially well in the North American market. Lemongrass and other flavours were added to cater to American palates. Soon maté de coca could be bought in tea-shops and grocery stores in US cities.
Maybe I was misinformed, but I was taught that they were from the same plant. Then again, I was taught at a xtian school, where everything else they taught me was incorrect. Oops.... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Interestingly, the cocoa plant from which chocolate is made contains a unique drug called theobromine, which is different from caffeine, as well as N-oleoylethanolamine and N-linoleoylethanolamine, which are classified as anandamides, similar in effects to THC.
Thanks for all of the responses. Some recent digging revealed that the Coca leaf is actually classified as a 'schedule I' substance in Canada (http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-38.8/37475.html). Basically, this means is that it's illegal to carry or consume any products that use the coca leaf, including tea (this was specified). Compared to some of the legal shit out there, this seems really, really stupid. So the question is, would I get thrown in jail if customs found me trafficking small amounts into Canada for personal consumption? You can buy ephedrine, red bull, etc, but not coca leaf tea.. :bugeye: spidergoat, Can you actually find any in American stores? They don't sell it in Canada, so I imagine it's illegal in the states, too..
This sounds more like the work of one ignorant teacher than a school-wide conspiracy, but what do I know. Chocolate is obtained from the beans of the COCOA plant. Cocaine is obtained from leaves of the COCA plant. In Latin America there is much less confusion. The plant that yields chocolate is called CACAO in Spanish. The cocoa solids in the chocolate that is processed from the cocoa beans contain caffeine, a well-known stimulant that also occurs in coffee beans and tea leaves, although in a much smaller proportion. Cocoa solids also contain a psychoactive drug called theobroma. Its effects are not so uniform from one person to the next, but in general it generates a moderate sense of euphoria. The combination of the two drugs makes chocolate a very attractive high and the caffeine, at least, is known to be moderately addictive and have numerous other bad side effects. Nonetheless it is not only perfectly legal and socially acceptable to feed chocolate to children, but it's considered downright cute. The substance known as white chocolate is made entirely of cocoa butter, another component of the processed cocoa bean. It has much of the taste and texture of whole chocolate (cocoa solids and cocoa butter processed into a single substance), a higher melting point that makes it a good confection in warm locales, and zero caffeine. The naming convention is not legally enforced everywhere and some substances marketed as "white chocolate" contain little or no actual cocoa butter and taste like crap. The leaves of the coca plant contain the drug cocaine in small quantities. Cocaine, like theobroma and unlike alcohol and caffeine, does not have the same effect on all people, but it is generally thought of as a stimulant and a euphoric. Natives of the region where coca grows naturally have for centuries chewed the leaves and achieved, by today's standards, relatively modest intoxicant effects. The local camelids on the other hand--llamas and their cousins alpacas, guanacos, and vicuñas--have intricate stomachs like cattle and horses that are much better equipped to digest fibrous material, and they can get pretty high by chomping on coca leaves. The natives have been known to get an especially good day's work out of a coca-stoned llama. Coca leaves are processed in laboratories to extract the cocaine in chemically pure powder form, creating small, highly valuable, more easily concealed packages of a drug that is illegal in most places. There is no relationship or similarity between cocoa and coca except the accident of phonetics. I don't think the two words were even borrowed from the same native language.
